Improvement in speculum attachments



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UNITED STATES JEROME D. BRUCE, OF NEWBERRY, SOUTH CAROLINA.

IMPROVEMENT IN SPECULUM ATTACHMENTS.

Specieation forming part of Letters Patent No. 118,683, dated September 5, 1871.

To all, whom fit may concern:

Beit known that I, JEROME D. BRUCE, of Newberry, in the county of Newberry and State of South Carolina, have invented a new and useful Improvem ent in Speculum Attachment; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make Vand use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to a new and useful improvenlent in the well-known surgicalinstrument or appliance known as the speculum, for the examination of the uterus or neck of the womb, and consists in an attachment to the speculum of an elastic tube, so arranged that the tube may be distended after the speculum has been inserted into the vagina, thereby distending the parts' and greatly facilitating the examination of the uterus, as will be hereinafter more fully described.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of the speculum taken on the line wir of Fig. 3, with my improvement applied. Fig. 2 represents the instrument inserted and the elastic attachment distended with air. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of Fic'. 1, taken on the line y y.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

A is the speeului n or reector, constructed in the usual manner, being simply atube of suitable diameter with a bell-shaped exterior end, with the interior surface covered with speculum metal and highly polished. B is a tube of rubber or other elastic and air-tight material, attached air-tight to the speculum at each end, as seen at C C, either by reducing the diameter of the tube at the ends or by making the ends thicker and more rigid, or in any other manner, leaving the middle portion of the tube iiexible, so that it may be readily distended with air, or by the introduction of gas, vapor, or liquid. D is a long` but small ilexible tube, which is attached to or connected with the tube B, as seen in the drawing. By means of this tube the operator forces, with his mouth or otherwise, air or liquid into the tube B, after the speculuin has been inserted into the vagina, and distends it, as seen in Fig. 2.

By thus distending the vagina and the parts connected with the neck of the uterus, the examin ation of the latter orga-n is rendered much more perfect and satisfactoryv than it has been heretofore.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure byLctters Patent- The elastic tube B, applied to the part ot' a speculum that enters the vagina, as shown and described, so that a chamber may be formed around said speculum within the vagina by injecting air through tube D, as specified'.

The above specication of my invention signed by me this 30th day of May, 1871.

JEROME D. BRUCE.

Witnesses T. B. MosHER, GEO. W. MABEE. 

